The Car Hunt Continues

We were starting to get the hang of New Zealand life! Cody was a pro at driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. I helped navigate with trusty Googlemaps. We made a great team! This day, we decided to go to downtown Auckland to search for a car. Downtown Auckland is so charming with lots of older homes that remind us of New England. The city is very clean with no litter, graffiti, or homeless people. The streets are very narrow and cars park all along the sides of the road making it even more difficult to maneuver around them with oncoming traffic. But everyone has been polite drivers, very rarely speeding and not in a hurry. 

In the middle of car shopping, we stopped for a picnic at a little reserve and let the kids explore…Reese had to bring her baby and glasses to complete her picnic look. 

It was getting late and we were all hangry after a lot of car shopping so we looked up a good fish & chips place for dinner and dove right into the Kiwi cuisine. The fish was freshly fried and served in paper. We also tried some hot dogs and sausages. Everyone loved the fish except for Ethan and Reese who both agreed that the fish was too squishy. Maybe they will be converted over time….

Before heading home for the day, we decided to look around the area for potential rental home locations. We drove through Devonport. It was a quaint little town, very similar to La Jolla or Coronado. We found a little cove and let the kids run free in the sand and water. We've discovered that they're happiest on the beach.  

And no day is complete without a little house work... Laundry here is very different. Luckily we knew what we were getting ourselves into before we headed here. The washing machines are smaller so you have to do smaller loads of laundry. They also very rarely use dryers. So most everyone hangs their clothes on a clothes line outside or clothes racks inside to dry. It will definitely be something we have to get used to! I'm used to doing most of my laundry in one day, but that won't be happening any more! It looks like my days will be filled with small loads of laundry, hanging, ironing, and folding. We're all embracing a simpler life....and learning to love it!